<p>so i got accepted to both...and this is a really hard decision to make =[....please help</p>
<p>anyone? which is better for a pre-med prospective student?</p>
<p>I would suggest visiting both. I really didn’t like the UCSD campus, but Cal’s is beautiful. I have heard some pretty bad rumors about Berkeley premeds though. (Burning lab books, sabotaging results, extreme competitiveness) From what I’ve heard it’s pretty cut throat, but maybe a current student can dispel this . . .?</p>
<p>I would say UCSD is better even though Berkeley has a better bio program. This is because UCSD has a med center on campus and it is easier to get internships, volunteer work, and medical research as an undergrad. This would show to med school adcoms that you are interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Keep in mind that Berkeley has no medical school. </p>
<p>There is UCSF but it may be harder to get undergrad research, internship, and volunteer positions if you are an undergrad. </p>
<p>Did you apply to UCLA, UC Irvine, or UC Davis as well? If so, those are other great places to do pre-med.</p>
<p>If you’re okay with going to a school with a crap campus, choose UCSD. It has an excellent bio and chem program, a world class medical school, without the extreme cutthroat competition and grade deflation at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Both are very comparable, but I would go to UCSD because you get pretty much the same education but at SD it’s easier to get higher grades.</p>
<p>We have a family friend who works for Berkeley as an accountant and he told me that it can harder for Berkeley pre-med students to get research, internship, or volunteer positions. He suggests go to a UC in which there is a med school/hospital on campus. Those are UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI.</p>
<p>yeah, ive been hearing some scary rumors of how crazy the competition is at berkeley for bio program…but i really like the berkeley campus, not that it matters, </p>
<p>im just now really confused…</p>
<p>i got rejected from ucla =(, my top choice…</p>
<p>is it possible to just attend berkeley for the first year and then transfering over to ucla?</p>
<p>@uc123cali you can but keep in mind that in transferring, california community colleges get first priority and then they will look at UC to UC transfers. Just maintain a GPA as close as to a 4.0 and try to transfer within a year. It is possible</p>
<p>^Probably not, you would need to cut it out over two years. And even then, it’s not guaranteed.</p>
<p>I am a community transfer student waiting for decisions to come around. I am currently a psychology major and I plan to be a clinical neuropsychologist and UCLA is my top choice. My other campuses which I applied to are Berkeley and UC Davis (safety school)</p>
<p>OP: For pre-med, go to UCSD. I have heard that Berkeley basically will ruin your GPA. And medical schools care more about your GPA than what school you went to. So yeah. I would go with UCSD.</p>
<p>BUT I would like to stress that Berkeley does have a fantastic biology department. It’s not that because Berkeley has a poor bio department that it is a poor pre-med school. It’s that getting a competitive GPA as a pre-med (esp if you’re a MCB or IB major), is very, very, tough. </p>
<p>At UCSD, the biology department is just a little bit worse. Not by too much. But the grading is much more lenient. You would still get an excellent education, and your GPA would be more competitive for med school. That’s the school I would go with.</p>
<p>@UC123cali, if you decide to go to Berkeley for pre-med, do not major in MCB, or IB. Try majoring in psychology, or public health instead. Those are considered the “easier” majors for pre-med</p>
<p>i REALLY want to go to ucsd…but my parents are into the prestige of berkeley…
this is a very hard decision…if only ucla was in my option list…</p>
<p>EDIT: i got accepted to all UC’s except for ucla</p>
<p>@UC123cali, if you decide to go to Berkeley for pre-med, do not major in MCB, or IB. Try majoring in psychology, or public health instead. Those are considered the “easier” majors for pre-med</p>
<p>pshychology is also an option, but do i also have to take the bio courses, so doesnt it mean that it will be as competitive…</p>
<p>All the “pre-med” requirements, the 1 year gen chem, 1 year o chem, 1 year biology, 1 year physics, and 1 year calculus would be competitive. But once you take your upper division classes in psychology, the competition will be less.</p>
<p>the good thing about a psych major is that once you start doing your upper division work, more time to get EC’s, volunteer work, and more time to study for the MCAT</p>
<p>ohh…so rather than MCB, the uper divisions classes will be easier,…so for MCB, the only diff is the upper division clases? </p>
<p>but if i major in phsychology, can i still get into med sschool?</p>
<p>EDIT: will going to berkeley as undergrad give u an advantage when apllying to their grad school for opthamology, because i heard berkeley is well known for eyes.</p>
<p>From what my UCB friends tell me it’s especially difficult to be pre-med because the competition is fierce. I go to SD and I can tell you pre-med here is no walk in the park here, either. However, you can get better grades here with less effort than at Cal. If you’re 100% sure you want to do pre-med SD might be a good choice.</p>
<p>Although SD doesn’t currently have the prestige of Berkeley and the social scene isn’t as vibrant, it is a good school with good weather, the beach, a safe campus, great science departments and lots of research opportunities for undergrads. Also, if you’re a social animal you can definitely find people to party with you. You can find plenty of things to do if you make the effort to search.</p>
<p>Either way, visit both campuses, weigh the pros and cons and then make your decision.</p>
<p>Edit: You can be pre-med even as an Art major. The only requirement is that you fulfill all the classes required by the med school you want to attend.</p>